Electric shaver

ABSTRACT

AN ELECTRIC SHAVER INCLUDES A PAIR OF TRANSVERSELY SPACED SHORT-HAIR CUTTERS AND AT LEAST ONE LONG-HAIR CUTTER WHICH IS LOCATED INTERMEDIATE THE SHORT-HAIR CUTTERS AND CAN BE RETRACTED OR ADVANCED DEPENDING UPON WHETHER OR NOT IT IS TO BE USED. DRIVE MEANS IS PROVIDED FOR THE SHORT-HAIR CUTTERS AND INCLUDES A MOTOR AND MOTION-TRANSMITTING MEANS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SHORT-HAIR CUTTERS. THE MOTIONTRANSMITTING MEANS IS ALSO ASSOCIATED WITH THE LONG-HAIR CUTTER FOR DRIVING THE SAME.

June 29, 1971 R FlsCHER' EVAL ELECTRIC SHAVER Filed Feb. 7, 195g DRH/EINVENTOR muuuy F/swm BY Pme-Imm .flm

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ATTORNEY Patented June 29, 1971 3,589,005 ELECTRIC SHAVER RichardFischer, Frankfurt, and Friedrich Schreiber, Bad

Homburg, Germany, assignors to Braun Aktiengesellschaft, Frankfurt amMain, Germany Filed Feb. 7, 1969, Ser. No. 797,501 Int. Cl. B26b 19/06,19/10, 19/38 U.S. Cl. Sil-34.1 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Anelectric shaver includes a pair of transversely spaced short-haircutters and at least one long-hair cutter which is located intermediatethe short-hair cutters and can be retracted or advanced depending uponwhether or not it is to be used. Drive means is provided for theshort-hair cutters and includes a motor and motion-transmitting meansassociated with the short-hair cutters. The motiontransmitting means isalso associated with the long-hair cutter for driving the same.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally toelectric shavers, and more particularly to the type of electric shavershaving cutters both for short hair and for long hair.

Dilferent types f electric Shavers having both longhair and short-haircutters are known. The present invention is concerned with the typewherein the short-hair cutter or cutters is or are covered by aperforated shearing foil which in use of the apparatus contacts the skinof the user and wherein additionally a long-hair cutter is provided. Inapparatus of this type, where because of their particular constructionthe short-hair cutters are relatively wide, it is known only to providethe long-hair cutter at a location exteriorly remote from the short-haircutters; this is because of the relatively large space requirements ofshort-hair cutters constructed in this manner. By contrast it is knownto have cutting apparatuses utilizing so-called shear-combs for theirshort-hair cutters as well as the long-hair cutters, and because theserequire relatively little space the long-hair cutters are locatedbetween the two or more short-hair cutters. This latter type ofapparatus, however, utilizes a separate drive for the long-hair cutteras we have invariably found in all prior-art constructions known to us.In the former type of apparatus, that is with the shear-foil-coveredshort-hair cutters, the use of a longhair cutter located between twoshort-hair cutters is not known at all.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention toprovide an electric shaver of the type using shear-foil coveredshorthair cutters which is provided with a long-hair cutter requiring noseparate drive.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide such 'anelectric shaver wherein a long-hair cutter is provided withoutdisturbing the balance of masses obtained in this type of apparatus byhaving the two short-hair cutters driven in opposite directions.

An additional object of the invention is to provde an apparatus of thetype under discussion wherein the arrangement of the long-hair cutter isgreatly simplified and its drive is reliable but much less complicatedthan herebefore.

Pursuant to the above objects, and others which will become apparenthereafter, one feature of our invention resides in the provision of anelectric shaver which comprises a pair of transversely spaced short-haircutters and at least one long-hair cutter located intermediate theshorthair cutters. The long-hair cutter is movable between a retractedposition in which it is retracted below the cut- 'ting level of theshort-hair cutters and one or more advanced positions in which itprojects at least to the cutting level of the short-hair cutters and isthus operative for cutting long hair. Drive means includes a motor andmotion-transmitting means which connects the motor with the short-haircutters, and the motion-transmitting means is also operativelyassociated with the long-hair cutter for driving `the same.

It is possible to use not only a single long-hair cutter but two thereofin which case each long-hair cutter is associated with one of theshort-hair cutters, which is to say that the long-hair cutter is coupledfor driving movement with the drive means of one of the short-haircutters. Advantageously each long-hair cutter is coupled for drivingmovement with the driving means of the short-hair cutter to which it isclosest.

The novel features which are considered as characteristie for theinvention are set forth in particular in the 'appended claims. Theinvention itself, however, both as to its constructon and its method ofoperation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, willbe best understood from the following description of specic embodimentswhen read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The single figure is a somewhatdiagrammatic sectional side elevation of an apparatus embodying ourinvention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing now the drawing indetail it will be seen that components not necessary for anunderstanding of the invention have either been omitted or showndiagrammatically. The drawing illustrates the upper part of an electricshaver in a vertical section taken in a plane transversely to theelongation of the cutting heads. The shorthair cutters are identifiedwith reference numerals 1 and 10 and are elongated in a plane normal tothe plane of the drawing. Such cutters are already well known in theart. Shear foils 2 and 20 respectively overlie the short-hair cutters 1and 10 which latter can be constructed in known manner of a plurality ofcutter blades mounted on or integral with a frame or the like. Theshear-foils are very thin foils which are provided with a great numberof perforations through which the hairI or beard stubble can come intocontact with the short-hair cutters 1 and 10 respectively. In theillustrated embodiment the shear foils 2 and 20 are connected with theirrespectively opposite ends at the outer housing wall as shown, and intheinterior of the housing. However, it would also be possible to utilize asingle shear foil overlying both of the short-hair cutters 1 and 10 inwhich case the shear foil would of course have to be provided in themiddle with suitable openings for the long-hair cutters which are stillto be described. The outer contour of the shaving head of the apparatusis identified with reference numeral 21. At their outer ends, that isthose which are connected with the outer wall of the housing, the shearfoils 2 and 20 are so mounted in known manner as to have a certainfreedom of movement so that they can conform themselves to the contoursand movements of the short-hair cutters 1 and 10 which are pressedagainst the shear foils 2 and 20 from below under the biasing action ofsprings 3` and 30 each of which is associated with one of the short-haircutters 1 and 10.

In accordance with the present invention we further provide, locatedintermediate the short-hair cutters 1 and 10 and extending inlongitudinal parallelism therewith, two long-hair cutters 4 and 40 ofthe type known from hair cutting machines. Such cutters are well knownand are not believed to require a detailed discussion. A single one ofthese long-hair cutters could also be provided but we have chosen toillustrate an embodiment where two of them are provided.

The long-hair cutters 4 and 40 do not extend in parallelism with oneanother as far as their cutting portions are concerned; rather, thecutting portions extend substantially tangentially to the contour of therespectively associated short-hair cutter, that is either the oneidentified with reference numeral 1 or the one identified with referencenumeral 10. Because of the way the cutting portions of the long-haircutters 4 and 40 diverge from one another, there is a space ofsubstantially conical cross section left between them which is filledand covered Itowards the exterior by the member 5 or an analogousmember. This protects the long-hair cutters 4 and 40 when they areretracted, but it will be seen that the member 5 is so constructed thatwhen the long-hair cutters 4 and 40 are to be used and consequently areto be moved outwardly, they will project beyond the upper exposedsurface of the member 5.

The long-hair cutters 4 and 40 are in this embodiment lshown as capableof shifting movement between three positions in one of which they areretracted to or below the cutting level of the short-hair cutters 1 and10, so that the long-hair cutters 4 and 40` are not operative. In thesecond position in which they are partially advanced and which is shownin the drawing, they extend to the cutting level of the short-haircutters 1 and 10 and serve during use of the short-hair cutters 1 and 10to cut off any long hairs. In this position each of the long-haircutters serves as a pre-cutter or pre-trimmer of long hairs for theshort-hair cutter which is farther spaced from it. In other words, ifthe shaver is moved over the skin of the user from left towards theright hand side of the drawing, then the long-hair cutter 40 will serveto pre-trim longer hair to shorter length ahead of the short-hair cutter1 which subsequently will then completely remove the thusytrimmed longerhair together with the beard stubble. The third position, which is notshown, permits the long-hair cutters 4 and 40 to extend still fartheroutwardly than illustrated so that they can be used as hair trimmers totrim the contour of the hair, for instance of sideburns, at the neck orthe like.

The drive means for the apparatus is shown only diagrammatically. Itwill be seen that there is provided an electric motor and a shaft 6,`60` which may be of onepiece 0r of two-piece construction. Swing-leversor pivot levers 7, 70 are mounted on the shaft, or rather on the shaftsections `6 and 60, respectively, in the illustrated embodiment. Thelevers or motion-transmitting members 7, 70 are actuated in known mannerby the electric drive, for instance inuenceable by a magnet in knownmanner, and are each associated with one of the short-hair cutters 1,10. It should be understood that they provide oscillatory reciprocationof the short-hair cutters 1 and 10 in direction normal to the plane ofthe drawing.

Each of the levers 7, 70 is provided with a pin or projection 71 and710, respectively, which engage into respective recesses 41 and 410 ofthe movable cutter member of the respectively associated long-haircutter 4, 40. Thus, the movable components of the long-hair cutters 4,40 are also given oscillatory reciprocation in direction normal to theplane of the drawing. They are, in other words, constantly driven evenwhen retracted. The dimensions of the recesses 41 and 410 in verticaldirection of the drawing are such as to permit the movement between theretracted and the two advanced positions of the longhair cutters 4, 40.It will be appreciated, of course, that instead of the constant drive ofthe long-hair cutters 4, 40 it would be possible to provide forselective coupling of 4 the long-hair cutters with the respective pins71 and 710; this is well within the skill of those conversant 'with theart. The rivet 50 indicates that both long-hair cutters can beconstructed as a single unit.

While the provision of the long-hair cutters in the manner according tothe present invention does not provide for better cutting of long hairthan is known from the art, it is emphasized that it is a lsolutionwhich in the particular type of electric shaver with which the inventionis concemed has not heretofore been proposed, that it is a most simpleand effective solution, and that it provides for very good balancing ofthe moving masses and thus facilitates the use of Ithe shaver.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together, may also find a useful application in other types ofconstructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in anelectric shaver, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown,since various modifications and structural changes may be made wthoutdeparting in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

We claim:

1. An electric shaver comprising, in combination, a pair of transverselyspaced short-hair cutters; a pair of discrete long-hair cutters locatedintermediate said shorthair cutters and movable between a retractedposition in which they are retracted below the cutting level of saidshort-hair cutters and at least one advanced position in which theyproject at least to the cutting level of said short-hair cutters; anddrive means including a motor and motion-transmitting means connectingthe same ywith said short-hair cutters for driving the sa-me in mutuallyopposite directions, said motion-transmitting means being operativelyassociated also with said 1onghair cutters for driving the same.

2. An electric shaver as defined in claim 1, wherein said short-haircutters and said long-hair cutters are each elongated and extend inlongitudinal parallelism with one another.

3. An electric shaver as defined in claim 1, said motiontransrnittingmeans `comprising two motion-transmitting elements each associated withone of said short-hair cutters, and wherein said long-hair cutters areoperatively associated with one of said elements.

4. An electric shaver as defined in claim 1, both of said long-haircutters extend in substantial longitudinal parallelism and are eachoperatively associated with one of said elements.

5. An electric shaver as defined in claim 4, each of said long-haircutters being operatively associated with that one of said elementswhich drives the short-hair cutter closer to the respective long-haircutter.

6. An electric shaver as defined in claim 3, each longhair cutter havinga movable cutter blade located in a plane inclined with reference to aplane of symmetry extending between and in parallelism with saidshort-hair cutters.

7. An electric shaver as defined in claim 6, wherein said cutter bladeof the respective long-hair cutter is inclined towards that one of saidshort-hair cutters which is driven by said one element.

8. An electric shaver as defined in claim 7, wherein said cutter bladeextends substantially taugentially of said one short-hair cutter.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,574,317 11/1951 Berg 30-34.1

OTHELL M. SIMPSON, Primary Examiner

